The Football Association has released footage of Thomas Tuchel's first speech to his England players as manager, filmed in March 2025 at St George's Park, as the World Cup draws closer.
Tuchel sat the squad down in the meeting room and delivered an impassioned monologue setting out his aims for the job. He stood in front of a screen, flanked by assistant Anthony Barry, and talked the players through a list of "camps," the term used for England's meet-ups under his leadership, including "Camp 2" marked as "Base Camp" on the way to "Mt Everest."
Tuchel told players he wanted them "arriving as a brotherhood" at the World Cup, a message that helps explain why Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Harry Maguire, all fringe figures during qualifying, were left out of the squad announced last week.
"The mission of why we are here is very very clear," Tuchel told his players. "We want to be world champions. We want to put the second star on our shirt. It's very important that we just speak about it straight away. The target of this mission is clear. Second star on our shirt."
Tuchel projected England's own Mount Everest onto the screen, with each international camp in the World Cup build-up marked as the next stage of the climb. The final tournament represented the summit, where England hope to bring the World Cup home for the first time since 1966.
"Today guys, on the first day of the first camp, I was immediately affected, immediately reminded why I wanted this job in the first place," Tuchel said. "Why I absolutely wanted to have it, and why I got excited about it, the reason is you."
Building a brotherhood
The German has focused on fostering a team ethic since taking charge. Jude Bellingham, Foden and Jack Grealish were all left out of an England squad in October, with Tuchel keeping a consistent group through his "camps" rather than selecting on reputation alone.
Palmer, Foden, Maguire and Trent Alexander-Arnold are all absent from this World Cup squad. "So, of course, bad news, huh? You know, it's bad news. It's not enough because it's not only about football," Tuchel told the players in the speech.
"I spoke to a World Cup winner - he was in two World Cups - and he said the difference between the quarter-final and the win was it was the same level, the same quality of players. But once we arrived as a brotherhood we were ready to die for each other. It would have been no problem if camp was two months because we loved each other."
"Let's build guys, let's build something special until we arrive in the US. The point is, guys, I want to arrive here," he said, pointing to the top of his Everest chart. "I'm not even talking about winning. I want to arrive here on top when it gets really tough with the toughest group in the world. When we sit on the plane and land, we know already this will become a great camp and this will be a team no-one wants to play against. And they will feel it. They will feel it in the mixed zone. They will feel it in the tunnel. They smell it."
World Cup schedule
England begin their World Cup campaign in the United States on June 17 against Croatia in Arlington, Texas. They hope their run will end in New Jersey just under five weeks later as World Cup winners.
Carragher's warning
Former England defender Jamie Carragher fears the Three Lions will find the tournament "tough" and says Tuchel does not have enough top-class players at his disposal.
"I do have a little fear," Carragher said on The Overlap Fan Debate, brought to you by Sky Bet. "I think England will find it tough in this tournament, if I'm being totally honest. You look at the squad that's been picked and there's a lot of good players in there, but I class a lot of them as good Premier League players."
"I don't look at all of them and think, that's an international player there, and maybe that's just where we are with the squad at the moment. So, I wouldn't say I'm the most optimistic right now."
Carragher said Tuchel had prioritised different qualities over pure talent. "I think when you look at the squad, Thomas Tuchel put energy, athleticism, and harmony over talent," he said. "I think most people would probably say Harry Maguire is a better player than Dan Burn, but I know he loves Dan Burn in and around the squad."
"I know Anthony Barry a little and they put a great story in this togetherness and how we're going to be as a group for, hopefully, six weeks," Carragher added. "But this is bigger than just having talent to play. We can't have anybody who brings the group down in any way or a negativity that they're not playing or they're throwing their arms about."
"This is about how we're going to be a team, and he's not daft, Tuchel; he obviously knows in Foden, Palmer, Trent that they're probably three of the most technical players we've got right now. But they're not in the squad."
